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The LEGO franchise of video games has produced some rather memorable entertainment for us iOS gamers. Whether it’s Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC Superheroes or Star Wars, Warner Bros. has mixed those various franchises with LEGOS to give us some truly exciting and unique gaming experiences.

Which is why LEGO Star Wars: MicroFighters is such a curious thing. On paper, the concept should be an obvious slam dunk. A top down arcade shooter set in the LEGO/Star Wars universe would seem like a no-brainer, but in reality Microfighters doesn’t possess any of the charm, creativity, or production values that have made all of the previous LEGO outings so much fun to play and does absolutely nothing to distinguish itself in the crowded arcade-shooter genre.

You start the game by choosing either the Light or Dark side (each side has their own set of missions), hit play, and then you’re off to either save or enslave the galaxy. The first few minutes of the game encapsulates almost the entirety of MicroFighter’s uniqueness.

If you’ve ever played any top-down arcade shooter in the history of video games, then you’ve basically already played this game. You pilot a vehicle– sometimes it’s a spaceship or land based vehicle– and fight against wave after wave of enemies who come scrolling from the top of the screen as they try and destroy you.

And thats it. Enemies fly at you and you shoot them.

I wish there was more to it, but that’s all this game has to offer. There’s barely any attempt to take advantage of the LEGO or Star Wars franchises. Currency used to buy power-ups is in the form of LEGO blocks and studs, but other than that there’s no rhyme or reason as to why this is a LEGO game, and other than using the name Star Wars in the title and using locations from the universe, this game could literally take place anywhere.

Other than how they look, there is absolutely no difference is how your vehicles act or operate. The levels are all the same as well. Each map looks and plays like a reskinned version of the previous one.

LEGO Star Wars: MicroFighters is slow, boring and uninspired and almost totally void of any imagination. There are so many other games in the App Store in this genre, like Dodonpachi Resurrection and Space Invaders Infinity Gene, that are far more deserving of your time and money.

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